Today
the White House released the Obama Administration's budget request
for Fiscal Year 2012, which begins on October 1, 2011.

As
expected, the estimated $3.7 trillion FY2012 request contains a
number of critical policy and fiscal goals, including:

Reducing
the government's annual deficit by placing a five-year freeze on
so-called "non-security" discretionary spending, while
eliminating a series of fossil fuel-related tax breaks and projecting
an end to the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in 2012;

Investing
in education, with a goal of training more than 100,000 new science,
technology, engineering and math teachers over the next decade;

Rebuilding
the nation's infrastructure with a substantial infusion of federal
funds into high-speed rail, nationwide wireless, the creation of a
National Infrastructure Bank, and a $28.6 billion (68%) increase in
highway planning and construction; and

Promoting
clean energy technology with the goal of one million electric
vehicles on the road by 2015.

"Non-Security"
Discretionary Spending

The
Administration proposes saving $400 billion over the next decade by
freezing "non-security" discretionary spending. To achieve
this, many federal programs with a direct impact on the states are
facing significant cuts:

Meanwhile,
defense spending, which accounts for roughly 58 percent of
discretionary spending and 20 percent of total federal spending (both
based on FY 2011 estimates), will continue to grow, albeit at a
slower pace than in recent years.

The
Administration proposes funding reductions of $78 billion over the
next five years within the Department of Defense. The $553 billion
base-line Department of Defense request is approximately 3% higher
than current funding levels and does not include funding for nuclear
weapons or $117.6 billion for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Over
the next five years, real growth at the Pentagon will gradually
shrink but, unlike some programs within non-security discretionary
spending, it is projected to keep pace with inflation.

"Defense"
Spending v. "Security" Spending

Historically,
the discretionary spending discussion has been framed as defense v.
non-defense. This year, it is a discussion about security v.
non-security. Security spending is a much broader category which
includes defense spending, funding for homeland security ($44 billion
in the FY2011 request) and veterans benefits ($57 billion in the
FY2011 request).

By
way of example, defense spending is 58% of all
requested FY2011 discretionary spending and security
spending as 66% of the total.

This
means that the projected freeze and subsequent savings on
non-security discretionary spending in FY2012 will have to be
absorbed by an even smaller percentage of the overall discretionary
budget.

What's
on the Horizon in terms of NPP's Release?

As
part of NPP's annual analysis of the President's proposed budget, we
will begin releasing detailed materials by February 18th. We will
also be updating our web-based materials to reflect the newly
released figures.

NPP's
Fiscal Year 2012 budget analysis will include:

A
two-page fact sheet with an analysis of all proposed spending for
Fiscal Year 2012, including both mandatory and discretionary
programs, federal revenue sources, and deficit/debt data;

A
narrative analysis of the major policy and fiscal changes in each
area of federal spending;

A
three-year span of state-level data for federal assistance programs
like Head Start, Community Development Block Grants and WIC, focusing
on funding for education, health care, energy and the environment;